>> But not for his ramp equivalent. No. But they they might have it, but that That person is either that person's either special ed Oh, yeah, because this is or pre-k and early childhood. The pre-k is driven by special ed. Right. It's integrated. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so they they they need to have that background. Yeah, I would say that it's it's clearly not exclusively identified kids in our pre-k program. >> No, but the existence of Darcy Darcy becomes a special ed and that is sort of mainstream. >> At least today it is, yeah. I mean, at one point it was all the kindergarten kids in district two, but it's obviously not that way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Did the former, like the last couple of principals to Darcy, do you to your knowledge did they have a special ed certification? You know, I don't think so.
Right. So, you mean freshmen and sophomores. This is for teachers. So, we're But I'm just saying, have any teachers seen any changes with the students that are coming over from that area? >> that yet. The This plan started in seventh grade. Those students are now in eighth grade. The big transition is going to be those students headed up to to ninth grade, which is one of the other reasons why we're wanting to engage them in some conversations cuz they're a little bit nervous. So, maybe yeah, but maybe you can put that on an agenda in early fall so we get some feedback on how that worked in the It's part of that three-pronged approach where we've gotten teachers, which is what I told you we were talking about, solicit the students as well. So, it's all part of that. Feedback would Two things, if there's time.
We appreciate all that. Um I also want to congratulate the new member, Mr. Agioll for being here. Uh but I also wanted to bring to the attention that uh during this school board, I want to raise a governance and voter access issue for the board to consider. Whether Garfield annual school board election should be moved back to November. My concern is not about anyone candidate or anyone election result. My concern is participation. In April 2025 school election, Garfield turnout was approximately 8.41% and in April 2026 school election turnout dropped to approximately 5.92%. By comparison, the November 2024 general election turnout in Garfield was approximately 56, almost 57%. That is a major difference in how many residents actually participate in choosing their school board. A November election give voters more access. Election day voting from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Early voting, typically 9 days of voting countywide with a Garfield location available.
Would it be at 4:30 again? >> Yeah. And we to and that was the other thing. We used to meet in person. So I think like that maybe is the first question. Are we all good with 4:30 as a virtual meeting? >> I would like to keep it virtual and 4:30 is fine. >> Okay. My schedule is never the same. So if I get it blocked out early enough, I can make it work. The the main thing for Evan and I are sports again. Really? >> Okay. Um, >> could you do Wednesdays then you wouldn't have any sports games competing? >> Because I'll be honest with you, I'm not doing Fridays at 4:30. No. Can I reach out to you guys just because I really don't know what Jay's calendar looks like right now because we haven't calendarized it. >> I think I was wondering too, Hilda, do you just want to do There's no way that I think any of the administrators will have the like brain power to jump into this work in August.
Um there's a lot of data in education. It's hard to make it information out of times. And so, a lot of our work at the district office has been working with our teams to say, "What data do you need to make good decisions?" and then bringing it from multiple sources together. So, on the left-hand side you can see at tier one, that's an overview of referrals and I think most recently Mr. Infante Cumberland shared an example of that as an update to you all. Uh but a way to look at a variety of indicators and like, "Hey, how how is that going?" A lot of our sites are starting to bring students into that conversation too which I think is cool and saying, "Hey, it looked like I know it's hard to see, February was quite a tough month and February in the cafeteria was a very tough month." Uh and bringing students into that discussion.
Can you tell me more about that what that means? >> tell you everything as to why. I can just tell you that that was a theme that came out in those responses, that they felt that this was going to be used to target their teaching practices. I can't tell you the why. Um I can just tell you of that small group that was the 10% that was the theme that came out. >> Okay. The 10% of the 82 teachers that responded. The 82 staff that responded. >> So, see then that's kind of where we went back to the a few weeks ago. But all of our staff play a part in our statement of work. So, we asked for all the staff to respond. >> But do we break it down so at least we can see because as a classroom teacher, my knowledge that I'd be bringing into the classroom when it comes to my the PD that I'm going to do or how I'm going to take information from the admin and then bring it into my classroom is going to be very different than my support staff that are in there that are helping me because they are not certified teachers.
Support staff salaries in the referendum are down about 1.8% due to the attrition that we discussed earlier. Benefits are up 4% with the main driver here being the increase in turf. Safety and security expenses are up significantly compared to 2025, and that's basically a timing of our payment to the city and the county for our school resource officers, as well as the introduction of our school safety officers, which we did not have in the first quarter of 2025. STEM lab expenses are down 2.9%. And the overall operating referendum fund expenses are up 27% over 2025. Looking at our cash balance versus budget, the cash balance in our operating funds, which again just as a reminder, our operating funds are education fund, the operations fund, and the operating referendum fund. It's up slightly percentage-wise over 2025, sitting at 12.64%. While it's slightly below our targeted minimum of 13.5%, again, we have yet to receive any property tax revenues in our operations and operating referendum funds.
Is there any questions? >> I do want to point out that um I gave you the latest. All I needed to do was change I think we stated the number of minutes for late policy and we just left out the minutes there. >> Okay. >> Uh we just felt that would be cleaner. So, the version that you have in front of you is the one that you will be approving. And um just so everybody else knows, we are uh taking back the after school program that we've done for 1 year. We've contracted it out and we're going to take it back. And so, we just wanted to update policies in the handbook and the wages that you see in there. >> I'm glad to see that option. >> This will all take place then starting the >> Yes, beginning of the school year. We'd like to get this out to the families uh this week or next so they can start applying for it.
So when it comes to the director communications, thank you Brooke for what you've done. Uh, that individual focuses on building out and managing all the different schools, the communications between the schools, the communications between the in the schools, the parent communications, always trying to improve those communications. When we talk about the media aspect of the school corporation, by the way, we're one of the largest corporations of all Crown Point, I believe. So, I mean, you wouldn't say if it was a private entity. Let's not have a director communications or otherwise. And I'm not saying that Miss Le said anything wrong. I just want to make sure I'm stating my position on this issue because I feel very strongly about it. And um and so I I wanted to touch on that. Class sizes, we have control of that. Mr. Ka talks to us regularly about class sizes and teachers and we are in a better position today than we were seven, eight years ago when I first came on the board when we had 35, 34, sometimes 36 kids in elementary schools and that was a pressing issue to myself and some of the other board members that are sitting here and other board members before and I can tell you and assure you we have a good pulse on class size.
So, even if it stays on site uh it it may be uh relatively stable now and we don't know if it's going to be stable. This is a huge development. It's going to impact the ground over there. Probably going to impact the both the soil and the ground water and we really don't know in in what way. So The reason that we're asking is if this were virgin soil and virgin water it wouldn't be such a big deal except that we are charged with protecting downstream, protecting the river and protecting the flood plain and the and the river front area and it's it it will be impacted. So I appreciate what you said. It and I appreciate you chiming in. But um we still think that all of this is relevant to our deliberation. At least I do. I have a question. The you brought up the point about the cut and fill diagram.
>> Okay. >> Yeah. I mean, it's >> better than five, but either way, if if the if if the committee prefers five, I would I won't be there. >> And we can stay at six, you know? I mean, >> can we go back to 6:30? [laughter] We used to be a 6:30 years. >> Really? >> Yes, we were. >> I'm joking. >> Okay. [laughter] >> I'm one of five. You'd still meet Quorum. So, I think if you want to start at 5, >> ask one just a question because I know Mondays are a day where you're you're traveling. >> Yeah, I work till 5 and I'll be in Boston. >> Would it be helpful if we had it on a different day during those summer dates or is it every Cuz I >> I thought there were days where it might have been easier for you.
But I I can't definitively say yes or no on that. >> I Barbara and Gina Barbara Stern, I don't believe I don't think either of them did. But, I I I can't say definitively now, but I don't think either of them did. But, they, you know, had developed a lot of experience with the population over time, yeah. Certainly, I would consider them all expert in that area. Because that was really their entire population for the years that they were the principal, but you know, and I think to Anne Marie's point, that's, you know, benefited our our kids. Uh and this will take a tag team approach uh to deliver the same results. But, you had mentioned some you had mentioned four, and I want to make sure I get to all four, Anne Marie. So, the grant the then there was the uh So, coordinate the preschool.
I think this is the the uh maybe the bigger one. Um if we move forward with the superintendent's recommended budget, >> Yes. based on the conversations we've had so far, I'm thinking this is not impacted. We have the two extra DOT teachers. Yes. Is that right? I wouldn't call them extra, but yes. I don't think they're >> Two additional. Incremental. [laughter] Incremental. FTEs. [clears throat] Um It does that result in uh Kelly moving away from study halls or whatever you call them, I something, I forget. That's what the goal is. She's She's working on She's working on those I blocks. I don't know if she'll be able to eliminate them completely next year, but it's a move in the right direction. So, that brings me back to And do we vote on that at all? No. Okay, so that was informational. So, I will go back to what was I think it was the first meeting I was in in January, first curriculum committee meeting, where we had a discussion and there was interest on the part of the board members about something, maybe not recess, but something akin to it, where kids would have some sort release valve.
And vote by mail as part of a broader general election process. The April election has a shorter voting process or window from 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. And no comparable early voting period listed for that school election on Bergen County 2026 schedule. I also want to address the budget issue directly. Moving the election to November does not eliminate the public accountability on budgets that exceed the cap. Under the current school election framework, only separate proposal to spend above the cap need voter approval. Finally, Garfield spent roughly $29,000 to run an April school election that produced less than 6% turnout. Even in a race that appeared highly visible and competitive, the April date did not produce broad voter participation. For those reasons, I believe this board should publicly revisit moving the annual school board election back to November for 2026. If legally and pre- uh pre- servatively available, or for 2027 if that is the more practical path.
Do you just want to do maybe the like middle September whatever the middle September date will be between your guys's um governing board meetings and then we'll just start from there. >> Yeah, that's fine because um you know once the board takes action that they do want to continue um I'll reach out with you guys with some dates and we can kind of go from there. >> Okay, that works for me. >> Sounds like a good plan. Okay. Um All right, then. Um Okay, I'm sharing the right one. All right, so got that together. Are there any um questions or anything for the good of the order before we adjourn? We do. So with that, could I get a motion to adjourn today's meeting? >> Motion to adjourn today's meeting. Okay, >> I heard heard James is a second. All those in favor? >> I >> Great, everybody.
I really like the the trajectory that it's going. And then an example of tier two when um to not be overly technical, that's that's an example of maybe that might live normally in three different spreadsheets. You know, your check-in checkout points average, your referrals, and your attendance. And for a staff member, you need three tabs open, three places to put in data, that becomes inefficient and challenging. And so, we've been working on bringing that all into one spot to make uh better and easier decisions on behalf of students. And then finally, a few other updates that we wanted to share. We are finishing up our first year with an updated threat and risk assessment process. We partner with North Cook to redevelop our model, and we've gotten a lot of good feedback. It's a process that we use to ensure that students are safe. And that operates as part of our larger district safety committee, and it's a place that we're always looking to get better at.
In our other data sources, that was broken down. This is just the big overarching thumbs up, thumbs down kind of thing. So, in those data, we did disaggregate the themes by all the way down by departments. We disaggregated it by uh their overall perception of the district. So, those those surveys were disaggregated out in a lot of different ways. This is just the big like final takeaway before we move forward. With the Yeah, cuz I mean, I think a lot of this all sounds like that PD I can see it's rolling into we had talked about AI. Right? And that that will be a main focus next year because of everything that's changing. Yeah. And PD coming from admin with in the campus, we know we've got to continue that for the teachers so that we are finding the right the right way to look at that that first period attendance thing still kind of throws me.
And those will push us back into the target zone of 13 and 1/2 to 19% as we get into the second quarter. Our rainy day reserves remain at just over 6.2 million.
>> So, you can know your numbers and how to >> staff and set. >> Okay. Uh motion and a second. So, all in favor of this, signify by saying aye. >> Aye. Uh opposed? Motion carries. E6, consider approval of the memorandum of understanding between Benton Community School Corporation and Indiana Wesleyan University. Can I get a motion for that, please? >> I'll make a motion to the approval of a memorandum of understanding between BCSE and Indiana Wesleyan University. >> I'll second. Okay, motion and a second. Is there any comments or >> Yeah, I just want to to uh re-emphasize what that is. So, any of our uh teachers or paraprofessionals who are interested in getting certified as a teacher, uh we have an agreement with Indiana Wesleyan uh to help them in doing that. And it does have a discount attached to it, so. >> So, it's for any any other higher education that the teacher may want to do?
Now with that being said, nobody enjoys cuts. This is not a fun process. This is not anything that anybody up here wants to do. It's not anything that we want to release anybody because we love the people we have. So, but decisions have to be made and I thought you said it be best, Mr. Warney, that decisions and the time you and the rest of you put into this to come to this to have the least amount of impact is rather incredible. So, we appreciate your efforts. I appreciate your efforts. I think we look at the assistant principles. When I came to the board, there wasn't one assistant principal in our our school district, let alone one in every building. And several years we had a shared model like we're going back to. So I don't think it's as bad as what the public may see or what they're growing accustomed to.